CAIRO, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, ready to assume power in the new Parliament, is holding back on confronting the current military government, a senior leader says.
Interviewed by The New York Times, Essam el-Erian, a top official in the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said Sunday the group is postponing an expected conflict with the military rulers, will keep its distance from more radical Islamist parties and hopes the United States will continue economic aid assured in the 1978 Camp David Accords.
El-Erian said his party, which is expected to dominate the Parliament, has chosen to support the caretaker prime minister and Cabinet, appointed by the military council, for the next six months. He had previously suggested a challenge to controlling the posts might come sooner.
"Of course the military wants to delay or disturb the composition of the assembly," he said, adding the public opposes continued rule by the military, and that a step toward democracy is Parliament's choosing a 100-person assembly to approve Egypt's new Constitution.
